


Teal Roses

by TeaJay (LoreWren)



Category: Exalted (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: (Bullying committed by bit characters targeting major character), Blessed Isle, Bullying, Dynasts, Flirting, M/M, Physical Abuse, Realm Politics, Verbal Abuse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-25
Updated: 2021-02-25
Packaged: 2021-03-16 18:33:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29704800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LoreWren/pseuds/TeaJay
Summary: An outside-of-canon short including two future Solars, neither of whom I play.
Kudos: 2





	Teal Roses

**Author's Note:**

  * For [forbidden_librarian](https://archiveofourown.org/users/forbidden_librarian/gifts).



I idled. Lodging was handled, so was food, one way or another, with the coin I had on me. Realm cities were interesting, but largely for the novelty. Different food, different people, different rules for politic and flirting. 

Verithine had said “have fun,” and I had learned the rules well enough to try that by now. 

Probably didn’t want to bother with an actual Exalt. From what I’d seen, people on the Isle assumed any request from one was all but sacrosanct, and that could make flirting awkward at best—no matter what they said about Danaa’d, I had no interest in testing whether they still saw me as a man with my clothes off, and no interest in anyone who might feel entitled to an explanation of why I wanted to keep them on. 

I snorted. Entitled. Literally, around here.

One of the secondary schools was close by. Weird seeing that many people all the same age, clustered like they’d never talked to a peer more than a year older or younger than they were. I slid into the crowd—I might be a year or two too old, but throw in my height and I could pass for half the ages in the academy. Everyone would assume I was just—what did they call them? A lost egg, right—from whatever year they weren’t.

The Exalts were easy to spot. Even if it weren’t for the obvious signs—literal leaves growing with their hair, blue skin, dressed for weather it wasn’t—there was a tension between those who had taken a Second Breath and those who hadn’t. Especially by the time they got near my age. As you got older, your chances got lower.

All of the mortals near graduation wore their house colors, less pride and more like a shield.

For lack of other ideas, I scanned for the flash of green and gold. Cynis was known for fun, and if nothing else could likely point me in the right direction. 

Which is what I was looking for when I saw a lovely young man in green and purple. Who was distinctly not an Exalt, with no signs of nature on him, and being literally shoved aside by a group of four. The words were rapid and in that bizarre accent Dynasts used, but even through the murmur of the crowd I made out that they felt stuck with him.

I shifted my direction towards the commotion, then twisted so I’d get us knocked both to the ground, rolling to blunt the impact.

“Oh!” He looked at me, wide green eyes and full red mouth. “I’m sorry; I didn’t, uh, see you there.”

Pretending he hadn’t been pushed. The four had lost interest, anyway. I flashed a grin. “Ah, don’t worry about it. I’ve gotten hit harder than that and said thank you.”

He looked confused. Then understanding hit his face, joined promptly by a blush dark enough to pass for a Fire Aspect. “Oh—uh—that—th—“

“Would you like a hand up?” I asked sweetly. He seemed to realize in that moment that he was still on top of me and scrambled off. I stood smoothly and held out my hand. He still managed to look splendid, looking up through his lashes with artfully mussed hair.

He stood slowly. You’d think the man had never been flirted with before. Which, if true, was an absolute waste of what looked to be a very kissable mouth.

“Teller of Tales Cerulean,” I said, letting his hand linger in mine.

He blushed even more. Any deeper and he was going to burst into flames—which, I supposed, could happen here. “Edan. Um.” Edan looked at my clothes, blue and blue and blue, no hint of Ledaal gray or Peleps black or Tepet white. “V’neef.” Edan waited, clearly expecting me to share my house.

I pressed my luck and brushed lips over his knuckles. “A pleasure, Edan. My friends call me Ceru.”

When I released his hand, he held it, running the opposite thumb over the knuckles I’d touched. He caught himself at it and took out a fan—painted with artful hints at grapes among swirling lines—half-covering his blush. “Is—that a normal greeting, where you’re from?”

I blinked with exaggerated innocence and leaned into my Seatongue accent. “Yes. How then do you greet each other here?”

His eyes narrowed. “A full kiss on the mouth,” Edan said dryly. 

I leaned towards him. “My mistake—“

“But-I-wouldn’t-want-you-to-be-uncomfortable!” he rushed out in a breath.

I smiled, leaning back again. “Care to show me around?” The Dynast bit his lip, attention darting sideways to where his classmates had been and weren’t. “I’m only in town a few days.”

That settled it for him. He snapped his fan shut and gestured with it. “Of course.”

  
  
  



End file.
